Senegal Bichir

The Senegal Bichir (or Senegal's Bichir) is a prototypical species of the Polypterus genus and most of its features hold for the rest of the genus. The body is long and about as deep as it is wide. A serrated dorsal fin runs along most of the body until it meets the caudal fin. The pectoral fins attach just behind and below the gill openings and are the primary means of locomotion, providing a slow, graceful appearance. P. senegalus is smaller than its brethren, reaching about 40 cm (16").

The head is small and lizard-like with a gaping mouth and small eyes on either side. Since its eyesight is poor the bichir primarily hunts by smell. External nostrils protrude from the nose of the fish to enable this.

A modified swim bladder serves as a "lung", allowing the fish to periodically gulp air from the surface of the water. This also helps it survive for short periods out of water. In the aquarium bichirs can be observed dashing to the surface for this purpose.

Bichirs are predatory fish and in captivity will take any live or dead animal that can be swallowed or broken apart and then swallowed. The only thing preventing a bichir from emptying an aquarium of smaller fish is its speed; the pectoral fins only allow for slow cruising and while it can achieve amazing bursts of speed, it can't catch fish of average speed.